Jeudi - We decided to go back and view the Musée Guimet today. We had no sooner boarded the 63 bus, than a troop of twelve to fifteen children were brought on by their day care supervisors. I had no problem with the kids, but one of the supervisors, who was seated directly behind me, would not shut up. It was bad enough that she keep her mouth moving the entire time until we got off a stop or two ahead of them, but she was extremely loud.
We walked up to Musée Guimet only to find a long line waiting to get in. We decided to take a walk around the area. In the distance, a few blocks, I saw an interesting building tower and thought we could have a look, but we never got there. Robb was feeling hungry and we came across a nice bistrot just across the street from the Musée Galliéra, I'm not certain but this appears to be the main entrance. At bistrot Galliéra, we sat on the café terrasse. I had fish-on-a-stick and Robb had salmon. Never heard of fish-on-a-stick you say? Well, actually, it was a brochette de Perche. A brochette is usually beef, pork or veal on a skewer with peppers and onions, but at this place they used perch. It was very tasty. Just across the street is a tiny litle "park" with a statue of Rochambeau.
After our delightful repast, we walked back to the Musée Guimet, but the line was still rather long. I was beginning to think we would either have to come back another day or just forget it. Then I noticed a sign pointing up the street indicating the existence of the Centre Culturel Allemand (the German Cultural Center), so we traipsed up there. There wasn't really much of interest. They had about a dozen posters for movies/sports and that was it. We checked them out and went back to the Guimet (be sure to check out the visite virtuelle). If you click on "le version plein ecran" under the words "Michel Urtado" you can see the virtual visit in full screen mode. The line had dwindled considerably, so we joined at the rear and found that the cause of the long lines was a security checkpoint just inside the door.
I don't know if you can get a feeling for the size of the place from my exterior picture, but it is huge. There are five floors and it covers most everything one would consider Asiatique: India, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, Japan, etc. By now, I was pretty tired, so we only wandered around the main floor, but even that was quite large, with room after room of mostly statuary.
Plus à venir, mes amis.
Showing posts with label Musée Galliéra. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Musée Galliéra. Show all posts
Monday, July 28, 2008
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Paris 2008 - 23 Juillet
23 Juillet (Mercredi) - We got a late start, leaving the apartment after 16h00, which considering how I was feeling, was a major accomplishment in itself. I really didn't feel like going out at all, but the days dwindle down, etc, etc.
We picked up the 63 bus and rode over to the Palais de Tokyo and the Musée d'Art Moderne, which are actually two separate buildings behind the same façade with a café terrasse in the center. Until the other day, when we rode the 63 to the end of the line, I didn't even know they were there. I mean, I had heard of them, but I didn't know where they were. I had been under the impression that the Palais de Tokyo was on the Left Bank near la Tour Eiffel, but now realise that is the Maison de la Culture du Japon a Paris, an interesting place in its own right.
Speaking of La Tour Eiffel, this is the view we got after leaving the bus.
We entered the Musée d'Art Moderne first, only to be told they would be closing in five minutes. I saw people entering the Palais de Tokyo and none were coming right back out, so we went over and found that it is open until midnight. We bought our Tarif Réduit (reduced price ticket) and started our tour. Remember our impression of the Pompidou's permanent collection? Well, ditto for the Palais de Tokyo. One exhibit was a room painted white with a small white box in the center of the floor. Another was a huge mound of garbage, literally. There was one exhibit which, though stupid, was interesting. It was a machine that loaded bottles into a barrel and blasted them against the wall at the far end of the room every fifteen minutes or so. There was quite a build-up of broken glass and I wondered how often they cleaned it and what they did with the glass. Maybe that's where they got the garbage for the other room. My favorite exhibit was a room full of Darth Vader masks on rods. They were all wired to a machine that produced a strange kind of music. It could have been really something if they had used the entire outfit so that it looked like there was a room full of Darth Vaders, but that's just my opinion.
We left there and discovered, just across the street, a beautiful building we had seen during our bus rides, but didn't have a clue about what it was. It is the Musée Galliéra. The sign indicated that the next scheduled exhibition would be in November, so we didn't go in. Beside, we weren't sure it was open because we only saw one person on the grounds and she appeared to be just walking through.
We walked up the street to Place d'Iéna where we discovered a statue of George Washington. On the other side of the Place was another museum about which we knew nothing, the Guimet, musée Asiatique. It looks very interesting so I hope we can go back and investigate a bit further before we have to leave.
We had dinner at l'Artiste Café. We both had the Salade Parisien. Ham, mushrooms, tomatoes, carrots on a bed of greens and topped with a poached egg. Super delicious, but again, more than I could finish.
I saw these two headlines on an internet news site: Obama urges Germans to work with US to stop terror. McCain visits German restaurant in Ohio. I find that hilarious!
Plus à venir, mes amis.
We picked up the 63 bus and rode over to the Palais de Tokyo and the Musée d'Art Moderne, which are actually two separate buildings behind the same façade with a café terrasse in the center. Until the other day, when we rode the 63 to the end of the line, I didn't even know they were there. I mean, I had heard of them, but I didn't know where they were. I had been under the impression that the Palais de Tokyo was on the Left Bank near la Tour Eiffel, but now realise that is the Maison de la Culture du Japon a Paris, an interesting place in its own right.
Speaking of La Tour Eiffel, this is the view we got after leaving the bus.
We entered the Musée d'Art Moderne first, only to be told they would be closing in five minutes. I saw people entering the Palais de Tokyo and none were coming right back out, so we went over and found that it is open until midnight. We bought our Tarif Réduit (reduced price ticket) and started our tour. Remember our impression of the Pompidou's permanent collection? Well, ditto for the Palais de Tokyo. One exhibit was a room painted white with a small white box in the center of the floor. Another was a huge mound of garbage, literally. There was one exhibit which, though stupid, was interesting. It was a machine that loaded bottles into a barrel and blasted them against the wall at the far end of the room every fifteen minutes or so. There was quite a build-up of broken glass and I wondered how often they cleaned it and what they did with the glass. Maybe that's where they got the garbage for the other room. My favorite exhibit was a room full of Darth Vader masks on rods. They were all wired to a machine that produced a strange kind of music. It could have been really something if they had used the entire outfit so that it looked like there was a room full of Darth Vaders, but that's just my opinion.
We left there and discovered, just across the street, a beautiful building we had seen during our bus rides, but didn't have a clue about what it was. It is the Musée Galliéra. The sign indicated that the next scheduled exhibition would be in November, so we didn't go in. Beside, we weren't sure it was open because we only saw one person on the grounds and she appeared to be just walking through.
We walked up the street to Place d'Iéna where we discovered a statue of George Washington. On the other side of the Place was another museum about which we knew nothing, the Guimet, musée Asiatique. It looks very interesting so I hope we can go back and investigate a bit further before we have to leave.
We had dinner at l'Artiste Café. We both had the Salade Parisien. Ham, mushrooms, tomatoes, carrots on a bed of greens and topped with a poached egg. Super delicious, but again, more than I could finish.
I saw these two headlines on an internet news site: Obama urges Germans to work with US to stop terror. McCain visits German restaurant in Ohio. I find that hilarious!
Plus à venir, mes amis.
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